States remain stuck in the capability trap as they mimic the forms and
structures of successful organizations

Yamini Aiyar

Thu, Feb 21 2013. 06 24 PM IST

In a recently published paper, economists Lant Pritchett, Michael Woolcock
and Matt Andrews argue that many developing countries are stuck in a
"capability trap" in which the "appearance of development activity masks the
lack of functional development activity". India's experience with
implementing the Mid- Day Meal (MDM) Scheme is a good case study on how this
capability trap unfolds.

Delivering MDM ought to be a relatively straightforward administrative
exercise. Unlike other welfare programmes with more complex eligibility
requirements and monitoring systems, MDM is an input driven scheme that
requires the administration to make a universal transfer, based on calorie
norms determined by guidelines, of foodgrains and money to all government
schools. Schools are responsible for the actual implementation-procuring
cooking materials, hiring cooks and preparing meals for children. Some
states and districts have outsourced implementation to local NGOs
(non-governmental organizations) who prepare and deliver cooked meals to
schools. Yet, as my colleagues at Accountability Initiative discovered when
we began tracking the implementation of the scheme in Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar, even these routine tasks are often not implemented properly.

Under MDM, districts are an important administrative hub, as they sanction
the transfer of money and grains to schools, monitor progress, maintain
accounting records and resolve administrative bottlenecks. However, we found
in our review that poor management systems, inadequate resources and weak
infrastructure make it impossible for the district to perform these
functions effectively. For example, in Bihar, the administrative arm
responsible for delivering foodgrains runs parallel to the MDM
administration. The MDM department has no powers of accountability over the
foodgrains administration. So if schools have problems, like grains not
arriving on time, all the MDM authorities can do is issue a letter of
complaint. So by design, the MDM department cannot be held accountable for
ensuring that schools receive their foodgrains.

Even within the MDM administrative structure, management and monitoring
mechanisms are weak. In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, there are no dedicated
officers responsible for monitoring schools at the local level. This task is
performed by overworked elementary education officers who report to
education and not to MDM authorities. Unsurprisingly, monitoring MDM is not
their top priority.

Bihar has dedicated block-level monitors, but the sanctioning authority
rests with the district education officer, for whom MDM is again not a high
priority. Lack of adequate financial resources adds to the problem. In one
interview, a local official in Uttar Pradesh said that he was unable to
monitor schools as he had not received any transport allowance for the year.
So, when reports have to be prepared, officers collect information through
telephone calls to headmasters.

Given these problems, districts have developed their own strategies for
reporting on progress. We found that utilization numbers in district records
are calculated based on formulas devised by the district rather than on
actual consumption in schools. If you compare school and district records on
money transferred, the numbers do not match. So reports, perpetuating the
fiction of a functional system, rarely represent reality.

The schools' experience with implementing MDM is quite different to what
district records suggest. Our analysis of foodgrains receipts based on
school surveys in Bihar found that for several months in the year, a large
number of schools-75% in one district-did not receive enough foodgrains to
serve the requisite meals on all school days. We also discovered that
salaries for cooks can take anywhere between two and six months to arrive in
school bank accounts. The process of fund and grain transfers is so opaque
that schools have no prior information on the timing and quantum of
foodgrains and money they can expect to receive.

Where information systems have been developed, they have not been well
conceived. Uttar Pradesh developed a system to send SMS alerts to
headmasters with details of the amount of grain a school ought to receive,
but the SMSes were in English and many headmasters complained that they
could not read them! Faced with such constraints, schools have developed a
range of coping strategies, all of which seriously compromise
accountability. In some instances, headmasters entered into credit-based
arrangements with local stores. In others, headmasters said that they used
their own money and reimbursed themselves once government money arrived.
Sadly, the most common coping mechanism reported was reducing the quantum of
food given to students or simply not serving meals. We found in our school
surveys that schools in Uttar Pradesh serve meals regularly, but the amount
of food given is much lower than required by the guidelines, while schools
in Bihar go months without serving meals to students.

These capability failures are not unique to the MDM scheme. As we have
explored in this series, capability failure is the one common thread that
runs through India's implementation of welfare schemes. To return to the
argument made by Pritchett et al, one reason why states remain stuck in the
capability trap is that they mimic the forms and structures of successful
organizations-in India's case, the hierarchical, top down bureaucracy that
works in the Western world-without creating conditions under which these
forms can be successful. It is clear that this mimicry is not yielding
results in India. An honest, robust public debate on reforming India's
administrative institutions is the need of the hour.

Yamini Aiyar is director, Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy
Research. With inputs from of the PAISA team at Accountability Initiative,
especially Mehjabeen Jagmag and Ram Ratan Jat.

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